‘God’s hands protected me’: Hear from the man who helped stop church mass shooting in Wayne

Wayne church security member recounts harrowing shooting experience

WAYNE, Mich. – A potential mass shooting at a church in Wayne was thwarted after employees came together to take down the suspected shooter.

Brian Anthony Browning, 31, from Romulus, went to CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne on June 22 at around 11 a.m. wearing a tactical vest and armed with multiple weapons.

About 150 worshippers were inside the building, attending the morning service.

The incident started when one of the church’s deacons was running late and spotted Browning walking toward the entrance with multiple guns. The deacon then struck Browning with his pickup truck as the gunman began firing.

Local 4’s Lauren Kostiuk sat down with Jay Trombley, a security team member with the church, to discuss his experience with what happened Sunday.

You can watch the full interview at the beginning of this article.

‘Will I run towards it or away from it?’

He said the past few days, he has been “just trying to process the events that happened.”

“Piecing together information that is still coming in as I talk to other safety team members, other people from the church — To put together how the events unfolded.”

He then began explaining what he saw and heard that day.

He said children were performing songs they learned that week through the church that morning. The children had just finished singing and began leaving the stage to sit with their parents.

He remembered hearing a noise and initially thought there was some sort of mechanical issue in the building. But he quickly realized it was something more concerning as he saw people panicking and running away. He asked one person what sound they had just heard, and she told him it was an AR-15, then pointed in the direction where the sound was coming from.

“I’ve always asked myself, when I hear that sound, will I run towards it or away from it?” Trombley said. “On Sunday, I answered that question.”

‘God’s hands protected me’

When he went to the front door, he saw a truck parked in the front lawn smoking and a man lying on the ground.

He went out the door and realized that the man on the ground “had bad intentions.”

He said there was gunfire away from him, and he later learned that the man was shooting at another safety team member.

“The man outside turned and fired through the front glass into our lobby,” he said. “God’s hands protected me from what I’ve seen, the evidence through the table cloths, the tables, the window, the marks on the walls and down the hallways — I don’t know how I didn’t get hit.”

During the confrontation, one security team member was wounded in the leg but is expected to recover.

“As I’m watching, I can see the man go down but still had his weapons, and I engaged him,” he said. “I went outside — I was comfortable enough to go out and remove his long rifle and evaluate some more that he had more weapons.”

“He was still moving around; we covered him. It seemed like instantly law enforcement was standing in front of us.”

He learned that when Browning showed up at the church, witnesses saw him getting weapons and called 911 before the shooting happened.

‘It’s amazing that nobody else was killed’

He recalled that when police arrived, he and his fellow security team members showed their IDs to them, but police went past them and immediately handcuffed Browning.

“It’s amazing that nobody else was killed, and we were blessed that it wasn’t two people that were on both sides of the building.”

He wasn’t sure who shot Browning, but he knew that he and his fellow team member fired their guns. “I don’t remember the sound of my shots.”

“He was somebody’s kid,” he said. “It hasn’t taken me down, but I know that there. I’m sure down the road, the Lord will help me reconcile that.”

The message that people should gather from this incident is “Trust in God, first of all,” Trombley said. “But also, be prepared.”

The church established a security team 10 years ago and recently attended a training session on protecting places of worship. He said the team was intended for safety as there can be fires, medical emergencies and natural disasters that can happen.

Why he’s sharing his story

He wanted to share his story because “this stuff happens. We prayed for many years in all of our safety meetings that all of our training and all of our time spent together would be good fellowship that we got to look back on years from now, and none of it ever came about. That didn’t happen, but God put us in place to where we needed to be.”

“This is something that may happen. Churches, other organizations, and businesses, you have to have a plan for this kind of stuff.”

“God will prepare you to take care of yourself,” he concluded.

Wayne Police Chief Ryan Strong praised the response during a press conference, saying, “We are grateful for the heroic actions of the church’s staff members who undoubtedly saved many lives and prevented a large-scale mass shooting.”

According to police, Browning had no criminal history, though officials indicated he appeared to be suffering from a mental health crisis. His mother is reportedly a member of the church, and he has attended two or three services over the past year.

The FBI, along with multiple local and state agencies, is assisting in the ongoing investigation.